Review: Southside swings on Broadway

Moving from beachfront bars to the lights of Broadway, Ocean Grove's Southside Johnny Lyon brought his latest album, "Grapefruit Moon: The Songs of Tom Waits," to life with what, for now anyway, looks to have been a one-off performance Oct. 24 at the Nokia Theater in the heart of New York City's Times Square. 

If the music gods don't intervene and Friday night's show was really a one-time-only event, then those in attendance can count themselves lucky, because it was certainly an evening to remember. However, if Lyon and Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg's 18-piece big band, which played on the album and at the show, are able to coordinate their schedules and take this show on the road, the music community will be better off for it. 

After the band, conducted by Rosenberg, warmed up by running through "Midtown" from Waits's 1985 album "Rain Dogs," Lyon took the stage for "Yesterday is Here," the opening track of "Grapefruit Moon." 

It may have been nervousness on the part of the performers, the fact that the audience was still settling in (there was no opening act) or the overwhelming amount of people on stage (usually around 20), but while the first third of the show was solid, there was a definite sense of restraint about the proceedings. 

However, everyone had loosened up by the time Asbury Jukes guitarist Bobby Bandiera took the stage to lend a hand on a New Orleans-style rendition of Waits' "Gin-Soaked Boy," a live favorite for Lyon and the Jukes. 

Bandiera also joined in for a stripped-down take on "(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night" and a knockout run through "Down, Down, Down." 

While Lyon was the evening's star and Bandiera was a welcome guest, the night's MVP was Rosenberg. Often the receiving end of many jokes on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," the Max Weinberg Seven member commanded his big band with remarkable ease, often finding time to pick up the trombone himself or duet with Lyon on "Walk Away" and "Straight to the Top." 

"Two more different people do not exist on this planet," quipped Lyon after saying Rosenberg would be singing a part performed by Waits on the "Grapefruit Moon" recording of "Walk Away." It was unclear if the two people he was referring to were himself and Rosenberg or Rosenberg and Waits, but whatever the case, it was clear that the combination of Waits' songs, Lyon's voice and Rosenberg's arrangements results in some serious musical mojo. 

Here's the set list: 

1. "Middtown"
2. "Yesterday is Here"
3. "Dead and Lovely"
4. "Please Call Me, Baby"
5. "Johnsburg, Illinois"
6. "Gin-Soaked Boy"
7. "All the Time in the World"
8. "Walk Away"
9. "(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night"
10. "Tango till They're Sore"
11. "New Coat of Paint"
12. "I Ain't Got Nothing But the Blues"
13. "Shiver Me Timbers"
14. "Down, Down, Down"
15. "Grapefruit Moon"
16. "Temptation"
17. "Straight to the Top"

Encore:
18. "Parchman Farm"